Existing examples of disclosures related to electronic components include the inductor described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-39036. FIG. 11 is an external perspective view of an inductor 500 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-39036. Hereafter, the stacking direction of layers forming the inductor 500 is defined as the front-back direction. With the inductor 500 viewed from the front, the direction in which the long side of the inductor 500 extends is defined as the left-right direction, and the direction in which the short side of the inductor 500 extends is defined as the up-down direction.
The inductor 500 includes outer electrode portions 502 and 504, a base substrate 510, pattern layers 512a to 512c, and a coil pattern portion (not illustrated). The pattern layers 512a to 512c are stacked over the base substrate 510 in this order from the back side toward the front. The outer electrode portion 502 extends through substantially the left half of the lower long side of each of the pattern layers 512a to 512c in the front-back direction. When viewed from the front, the outer electrode portion 502 is substantially in the form of a strip extending in the left-right direction. The outer electrode portion 504 extends through substantially the right half of the lower long side of each of the pattern layers 512a to 512c in the front-back direction. When viewed from the front, the outer electrode portion 504 is substantially in the form of a strip extending in the left-right direction. It is to be noted, however, that a space is provided between the outer electrode portion 502 and the outer electrode portion 504 to avoid contact between the outer electrode portion 502 and the outer electrode portion 504. The coil pattern portion (not illustrated) is disposed on each of the pattern layers 512a and 512b, and connected to each of the outer electrode portions 502 and 504. When the inductor 500 configured as described above is mounted onto a circuit board, the lower face of the inductor 500 becomes the mounting face that faces the circuit board. The outer electrode portions 502 and 504 and the coil pattern portion of the inductor 500 can be formed simultaneously, rather than being formed separately, thus improving manufacturing efficiency. Further, the outer electrode portions 502 and 504 are formed mainly at the lower face of the inductor 500, thus allowing for reduced mounting area.